Story+1985-09-30+Los+Angeles,+CA

´´On the first part of our....American tour....we went down, down to Houston, Texas....and you´d see a lot of folks down there from the Northeast....out of Pittsburg....out of Youngstown...Detroit....out of Gary, Indiana...out of the Monongahela Valley...that moved, moved south looking for work in the oil fields or in the oil rigs....and when they got down there, the price of oil dropped....there weren´t any jobs for ´em....they´d end up down there with their wives and their kids....with nothing to do....no place to go....being told to just move on....this is, uh....this is called ´Seeds´....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Seeds´**

´´How you doing out there tonight ? (cheers)....that´s good, that´s good....this is uh....when I was growing up me and my dad used to go at it all the time.....over almost anything....but, uh, I used to have really long hair way down past my shoulders (chuckles) I was 17 or 18.... oh, man, he used to hate it....and we got to where we´d fight so much that I´d, that I´d spend a lot of time out of the house.....and in the summertime it wasn´t so bad....as it was warm and .....your friends were out....but in the winter, I remember standing downtown and it would get so cold....and when the wind would blow, I had this phonebooth that I used to stand in (chuckles)....and I used to call my girl like for hours at a time, just talking to her all night long....and finally I´d get my nerve up to go home....and I´d stand there in the driveway and he´d be waiting for me in the kitchen....and I´d tuck my hair down under my collar....and I´d walk in....and he´d call me back to sit down with him.....and the first thing he´d always ask me was what did I think I was doing with myself....and the worst part about it was I could never explain to him.....uh, I remember I got into a motorcycle accident once and I was laid up in bed and he had a barber come in and cut my hair and, man, I can remember telling him that I hated him....and that I would never ever forget it....and he used to tell me ´Man, I can´t wait till the army gets you ,when the army gets you, they´re gonna make a man out of you..... they´re gonna cut all that hair off....and they´ll make a man out of you´ ....and this was in, I guess, ´68 and there was a lot of guys....from the neighbourhood going to Vietnam....I remember the drummer in my first band coming over my house with his marine uniform on saying that he was going and he didn´t know where it was....and a lot of guys went and a lot of guys didn´t come back.....and the lot that came back weren´t the same any more....I remember the day I got my draft notice....I hid it from my folks and three days before my physical me and my friends went out and stayed up all night....and when we got on the bus to go that morning, man, we were all so scared.....and I went and I failed (chuckles) I came home (cheers) it´s nothing to applaud about.....but I remember coming home after I´d been gone for three days....and walking in the kitchen and my mother and father were sitting there, my dad said ´Where´ve you been ?´....I said, uh, ´I went to take my physical´....he says ´What happened ?´....I said ´They didn´t take me´.....and he said ´That´s good´....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´The River´**

´´If you grew up in the 60s....you grew up....with war on TV every night.... a war that your friends were involved in....and uh, I wanna do this song tonight for all the young people out there....if you´re in your teens....´cause I remember a lot of my friends when we were 17 or 18, we didn´t....have much of a chance to think about how we felt about a lot of things....and uh....the next time....they´re gonna be looking at you.....and you´re gonna need a lot of information to know what you´re gonna wanna do....because in 1985....blind faith in your leaders or in anything will get you killed....´cause what I´m talking about here is WAR !....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´War´**

´´Alright....are you in love out there tonight ? (cheers)....then this is for you....and watch out !...”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´I´m Goin´Down´**

´´Man, that´s uh....oh, I gotta rest for a minute, though....you know, I can´t keep up this hectic pace any more, you know....oh, no, we did a song before for the young folks, gonna do this one now for the old folks out there (chuckles)...is anybody my age out there tonight, man, I just turned 36 ? (cheers)....anybody older than that out there ? (some cheers) hey, alright, we´ve got some, good (chuckles) this is a song about, about Father Time, about, uh ....how like, uh, you know, you´re out in a bar on Friday night and there´s always somebody who comes up to you, tries to tell you like ´Oh, remember me from high school ?´ and ´what a great time we had´ and how great high school was and those good old memories and....but like, what I remember is like I hated high school....I mean I couldn´t stand no high school....I mean when this time of year comes around I´m still glad that I don´t have to go back to high school....you ain´t gonna miss it, I promise you (chuckles)....in high school I was only interested in two things....one was the guitar....and the other one was, uh, uh, uh.....yeah, that one, that one, that one....now, the guitar is the one I became proficient at....now, the other one....that´s why the shows are so long ´cause the other thing happens so fast.....but that´s alright ´cause I´m married, I´m getting a lot of practise and stuff now....oh yeah, it´s good for the soul, good for the soul (chuckles) anyway....here´s a song about how it all, in the end ain´t nothing but glory days....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Glory Days´**

´´Yeah...wow...this year....we´ve traveled....I guess all over the world....and I´ve had about as much fun as a 36-year-old person is allowed to have (chuckles)....but it´s funny ´cause every place we go, every place whether you´re in Australia or you´re in Japan or in Europe or all throughout the States, every place you go, when you mention the name of that place.... everybody goes nuts....watch, we´ll give it a shot....Los Angeles (cheers)....California (cheers)....see, what´d I tell you, you see, you see that works everytime no matter where you go (chuckles) and uh, I got to thinking about it and I guess I figured ´Well, the reason that people cheer....when they hear the name of their town is they must be proud of where they come from´....and if they´re proud of where they come from, it would make sense that they wanna do something to make it a better place to live....comes with the turf (chuckles) now, tonight in the audience, we got some representatives from ....Community Food Resources of Los Angeles and what that is, that’s a foodbank.....that services other foodbanks also in Long Beach, in Orange County, in Riverside, in San Diego.....and we got some folks from the Steelworkers Oldtimers Foodbank.....who we worked with the last time we were here in Los Angeles....and uh, what a foodbank is is every year 20 percent of all the food that gets produced in the United States ends up just getting wasted or thrown away .... meanwhile in every city, in every town.....and every state, there’s old folks that gotta decide between buying themselves medicine or food because their social security checks don’t get ‘em through the month.....there’s people that been hit hard, real hard by unemployment ..... there’s single mothers raising their kids all on their own....there’s. uh....young kids that ain´t getting the right nutritious kinds of food....and what a foodbank does is it gets the food that would normally be wasted....and it gets it out to the agencies that serve those people.....and uh....right here in the States with....33 million people living at or below the poverty line and with the government cutting back on social spendings in one of the richest countries in the world, it just doesn´t make sense that people should go to bed at night hungry, people who´ve worked their whole lives....people who´ve worked their whole lives believing in something only, only to be in a situation where it was gonna let ´em down at the end....and uh, I guess what I’m trying to say is that these are the folks that are out there every day putting some of these ideas that I’m singing about up here tonight into practise in the real world.....and without them, what I’m doing up here tonight don´t amount to, uh, nothing more than words and without you, I can´t do anything (chuckles) so....(?) I guess I always believed that rock and roll got its power from the community, from a sense of friendship and a sense of place....so what I’m saying is tonight when you go out into the lobby....you´re gonna see some phonenumbers for the foodbank nearest you, for the Steelworkers Oldtimers Foodbank....check them out, when you get home, give ‘em a call, they need volunteers, they need financial support....and uh, oh, let me mention to you that also there is nobody, nobody will be taking donations out there tonight so if somebody comes up to you and asks for a donation, keep your money in your pocket until you get home, ok ? (chuckles) so, but when you get home, call those numbers and check them out and find out what they’re about ´cause they´re here in your hometown trying to make it a fairer and a more decent place to live for all of its citizens so....ok ?....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´Yeah....this is a song about...trying to find something to hold on to, I guess.....when I was growing up, I was lucky....in that I had some good friends....and uh, I´d like to do this song tonight for Little Steven....he´s back, uh, he´s back in New York right now....working on a record called ´Sun City´....which is an anti-apartheid record....which should be coming out very soon....it´s uh, I think it´s a really great record so be looking for it.....and uh....here´s one for friendship....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´No Surrender´**

´´I always remember...my house at night would always seem so quiet....my dad would have all the lights out downstairs....and my mom would be on the couch....watching TV till she fell asleep...I can always....remember laying in bed....not being able to fall asleep....and just laying there feeling like something was....something was...was fading inside of me...but I didn´t know what it was...I can remember feeling like if something didn´t happen....that someday I was just gonna....like someday I´d just....feeling like someday I was just gonna .... like someday I´d just....like I was just gonna....like I´d just....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ‘I´m on Fire’**

´´Temptation !...that´s what I´m talking about....are you familiar with temptation ? (cheers) ....good because this is a song about conflict....between worldly things and spiritual health.... between desires of the flesh, and I´m talking about sexual desire....and spiritual ecstasy .... now to help me....with my sermon, I´d like to bring out one of the world´s foremost biblical scholars, ´Handsome´ Jim McDuffy...thank you, Jim....now, where did all this temptation begin ? ....well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden....have you heard about it ? (cheers) alright....well, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia, somewhere about there....but the latest theological studies have found out that the actual location of the Garden of Eden was, uh, uh, help me out here, Jim....that´s right, ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike....and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they call it the Garden State....but now understand, in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living....you couldn´t go home tonight, make yourself a nice ham-and-cheese sandwich, pull it out of the icebox, jump in the sack with your baby and watch David Letterman....no, Sir ! ....you couldn´t go, you couldn´t go down on to, uh, to uh LaCieda there and buy a fatburger if you wanted one....no, Sir !....in the Garden of Eden there was no sin.... there was no sex.....man lived in a state of innocence.....now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I constantly live in....but now listen to me....on....in the Garden of Eden, there were many, many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, got everybody in trouble....there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve and she looked so fine....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman.....and she had legs that were long and soft to the touch.....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman....and then she touched him.....and it was the first time that a woman had ever touched a man....and then he snuggled up real close to her and he said ´I love you so, Evie´....and they went walking out into the green fields....and then they lay down in the grass....and he started whispering a lot of sweet things in her ear....and when Adam....well, let´s just say it was the first time for that too....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their sweet love into a betrayal and sent them driving down into the darkness below....but that´s alright because they cruised out of there in the sweetest little thing you´ve ever seen.... because standing right beside Satan was Cal Worthington and his dog Spark....and for 99.95 and no money down, don´t worry if you´ve got bad credit, it´s good here, we´ll finance, we´ll take a chance on you on this backlot tonight.....I´ve got the keys to their getaway car....and if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the first....pink... Cadillac ...”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´Pink Cadillac´**

”Thanks....I´d like to, uh, just take a second and thank everybody for coming down to the show tonight, thank you very much (cheers).....I´d like to do a song for you....that I guess, uh....is about the greatest song ever written about America....and it´s by Woody Guthrie.... and what’s so great about it is it gets....it gets right to the heart....of the promise of what our country was supposed to be about....and I guess I don´t know if you talk to....some of the.... unemployed steelworkers from East L.A or Pittsburg or Gary.....there are a lot of people out there whose jobs are disappearing, I don´t know if they feel this song is true anymore....and, uh, I´m not sure that it is but I know, I know that it ought to be....so, uh, I´d like to do this for you reminding you that with countries, just like with people.....it’s easy to let the best of yourself slip away....”
 * 30.09.85 Los Angeles, CA, intro to ´This Land Is Your Land´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//